Dawn Kurtagich > Quotes

“I've learned, in my tragic little life, that memories are like water. Not solid, like some people think. Once something happens, it isn't set it stone. It can change.

You can make yourself believe anything if you lie to yourself enough.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“Tell me pleasant lies, and I will believe them before I throw them away.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“There are places. Abandoned places. Forgotten places. These are the places I like to be.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“They think I don't exist . . . they think I'm like a disease. I'm infecting Carly.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“At least with my father, the danger was out in the open. I knew what to expect. But Auntie Cath is a different kind of dark altogether.
The worst kind.
The kind made from love.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“We have no right to children if despair is all we bring with us.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“I hate that I'm so easy to let go.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“The words slipped out like a bubble, too fragile to resist the destruction of air. It was like a glass smashing against a wall.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“Your eyes will be brown, a color that holds secrets well.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“I am a prisoner of my skin. My bones are my cage.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“Rotting in your skin
rotting in your mind
you are rotting in this house
in this house you'll die.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“You're going to destroy me," I whisper.
And then he is shaking even more, and I realize it's because he is crying. Not just crying, but the kind of bone-deep crying that only comes from grief. From the deepest sorrow. The kind of crying that tears deep down into the soul from some wound that time can never touch.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“Kaitie, are you alone?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Hang up."
"But why? What is it?"
"I can hear someone breathing on the line."
[Click]”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“Things can stay safe for long
they can pretend to fit
but then you hear Discord's song
and things crack bit by bit.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“I curse anyone who reads this book. If you touch it, hell will be waiting. Screw you. Happy reading.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“One box, and it holds a whole life of love - almost every letter Carly and I have ever exchanged. Seeing it here, all together, three big bundles of paper...is that all we were? Dying pages, fading ink?”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“You can tell me anything, you know."
"Even a bad thing?"
"Of course, even a bad thing. And you know, when you tell someone else a bad thing, it breaks in half, so that you're only carrying a small bit of it.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“I slump against the banister. "I don't understand. I'm so tired."
Cath is fading away again, her last look one of pity. Sympathy. Understanding.
"The mad always are," she says.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“Because, Dee, I'm the thing in the dark, just like the Viking used to tell me. I'm the creature coming up from the basement, the thing under the bed. I have nothing to feat in the dark. I am the dark.

I am afraid.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“I don’t say anything because he’s got fire inside him for sure, and fire burns.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“And here I sit, writing about him as though he's just a ghost from my past that still haunts me. And I guess that is all he is now. Just some guy I used to know.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“This is how it goes. This is how it works. These are the rules. But here is the secret. You are free. You're not one of those fools. There is no bubble except the one they put you in.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“Rage is pure, eloquent, and I can weave it into a tool. Sadness, loneliness, anguish - none of them require a partner.

Love? Love is a crack in my armour.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“Dark waters run deep.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“I will never judge you, nor pity you. I shall rage beside you. And I shall love you. No more and no less.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, Teeth in the Mist

“How tedious to have to perform the act of happiness daily.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, Teeth in the Mist

“Listen to me. Listen very carefully. You’re trapped. Right now you’re trapped. You’re stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe. You’re walking around in yourlife, like your own little isolation bubble, following their footprints, thinking: This is it. This is me. This is MY SELF. This is how it goes. This is how it works. These are the rules. But here is the secret. You are free. You’re not one of those fools. There is no bubble except the one they put you in. But it’s made of soap, of air—of nothing at all. Only, you’re taught that it’s indestructible—no way of getting through that barrier. And you can pop it with your little finger. You could pop it with your breath. You could blow on it and it would fizzle say.
You are free.
You can do what you want.
When you want.
How you want.
On your time.
You can destroy yourself, kill yourself—
And then get up and walk away.
You are free. No but. No or. No either.
You are an indestructible machine.
You are magnificent.
You can steal; you can cheat.
And you can lie. Be a liar.
I am.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“I rest my heart in anger to keep away my fear.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, And the Trees Crept In

“I'm sorry. I really do try not to get angry. Carly says anger is a weapon, but sometimes I think it's just another cage.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House

“Change affects us all in different ways. It'll get easier as more time passes.”
― Dawn Kurtagich, The Dead House